Under the moribund program, graduate students could receive Perkins Loans and colleges could award the loans to students who had not yet exhausted their Stafford eligibility. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “While I am pleased we are moving forward on a way to restore Perkins Loans to help undergraduates pay for college, we have much more work to do to reauthorize the Higher Education Act in a way that provides all students who want to further their education with the financial aid and affordable pathways they need to pursue their degree and help them gain a foothold into the middle class”.
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The Perkins Loan program will get a two-year extension, under compromise legislation approved Thursday in the House, a day after clearing the Senate.
Pangborn thanked Casey for serving as one of the U.S. Senate’s lead advocates for extending the Perkins Loan program, which he called an integral piece of some students’ financial aid packages.
The program’s congressional authorization technically ended last year, but it was automatically extended for one year through another law. U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin and others unsuccessfully tried to keep the popular and heavily-utilized program from sunseting two and a half months ago. Current graduate student borrowers will be able to do so through the 2016-17 academic year.
Alexander’s office, however, characterized the legislation as part of a managed shutdown of the Perkins loan program, according to Inside Education. Unlike the government’s direct loan program, which requires payment six months after graduation, the first payment for the Perkins program isn’t due until nine months after graduation. She is concerned about what changes and restrictions will come out in a final package, and what other types of financing students will be required to apply for before qualifying for the Perkins program.
While Congress may revive the Perkins loans, it has not provided funding for the program in about a dozen years.
Senate Democrats, many of whom pushed for the program to be renewed, also praised the deal on Wednesday.
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At the University of CT, there’s been a steep decline in the amount of money loaned through the Perkins loan program, from about $4 million in the 2005-2006 school year to about $1.5 million in the 2012-2013 school year. Graduate students are eligible for up to $8,000.
